[ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

PURDY, Jesse Colin 1978-1998

PURDY, HALL

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 5/21/2014 at 22:15:52

Jessie Colin Purdy Sep. 15, 1978 - Jun. 12, 1998

When a teen-ager dies, there's always a flood of "why" questions.

This week those questions lie heavy in the hearts of friends and family of Jesse Purdy, who died Friday in Des Moines from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was 19.

The 1996 Cedar Falls High School graduate was attending the University of Northern Iowa on an academic scholarship, earned by his mastery of computers. His scholastic efforts also placed him on the dean's list.

And with that mastery now missing, those he worked with will have other why questions to answer. Not only will they be asking why would a life be taken so early, but why the UNIX system isn't working right, and why their server isn't running as smoothly before.

Melanie Abbas served as supervisor for Purdy's job as network administrator at UNI's College of Natural Sciences, a job Purdy held since he enrolled at UNI in the fall of 1996.

She will miss his friendship and sense of humor in addition to his computer skills.

"He was a lot of fun. He was always playing jokes on us, and when I brought my kids in he would spend hours playing with them," Abbas said.

Abbas relied on Purdy to help her through her first year on a new job at the university.

"If I had any questions, I asked him," she said. "We're going to have to answer our own questions now."

Purdy's high school teachers also remember a brilliant, mischievous and helpful young man.

Math teacher Mary Staniger learned a thing or two from Purdy.

"You would have expected him to do great things, especially with the computer," she said. "He was a very nice kid. He had a lot of friends and he always helped out other students."

"It's just so sad," she added wistfully.

Gerald Ramsey had Purdy in band and jazz band. He will remember Purdy's "good-natured hijinks."

Ramsey recalled the time Purdy decided to have a little fun with one of those nonsensical school rules. The school mandated students couldn't wear coats or jackets in the cafeteria. To test the rule, Purdy wore a trench coat and boxer shorts.

That incident was typical of Ramsey's fresh attitude.

"In a lot of ways he was just a very positive thing in everyone's day," Ramsey said.

Purdy was just starting an internship as a computer programmer with Convergent Communications in Urbandale. Abbas said it was a chance for him to test the waters and get a better feel for what he wanted to do in life.

He had thought about computer programming or network administration, and had even toyed with the idea of following in the footsteps of his mother, Jayne, a schoolteacher in Dunkerton.

Funeral services are planned for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church. Visitation is at Richardson Funeral Home until 8 p.m. today.

[Richardson Funeral Service, June 1998]

-------------------------------
Son of Jon and Jayne Purdy
Maternal grandparents: Robert E. and Beverly J. (Hall) Purdy


 

Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen

[ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]